Personally, I'd take the giant. The merida is also a good option though. Take the giant if you want a light, race level frame. It's worthy of better components if you are someone who likes to tinkerand might upgrade parts along the way. Take the merida if you just want to ride it and not change anything. You're getting a better component group - mostly weight savings and a bit of bling. Functionally pretty similar to 105 but the weight will offset the difference in the frames.

Aluminium is a well developed material - it's not overly difficult for manufacturers to produce a very good aluminum frame at a decent cost these days. Carbon takes a bit more R&D and usually has the 'fancy' features like asymmetric status on the giant, hence the higher cost and lower spec groupo. Whether you can tell any difference on the bike is another story...

One thing about the specs - the giant page says it has rs785 brakes in the blurb and then says it has rs505 brakes in the full specs. I think 505 is more likely as they are the 105 level stuff and 785 is designed for Di2.

Lastly, $400 isn't chump change here, that's a significant difference between the two. On value alone, I'd have to say Merida.I'm a bit tight but $2700 for a 105 level bike is a bit of a stretch in my book. Admittedly it has a nice frame and hydro discs which I guess justify the expense.

Who is online

About the Australian Cycling Forums

The largest cycling discussion forum in Australia for all things bike; from new riders to seasoned bike nuts, the Australian Cycling Forums are a welcoming community where you can ask questions and talk about the type of bikes and cycling topics you like.